Canada Post Issues Update On CUPW Strike

Talks continued yesterday but progress was limited this weekend. We’ve been trying to move forward with urgency on changes to our delivery model that would provide weekend delivery and more flexible staffing during the week.

The union has been focused for the last 24 hours on workers they don’t represent — like hiring away the cleaning staff from our contracted cleaning service and making them full-time Canada Post employees and pushing back on any changes to the pay and benefits of people we’ll hire in the future.  

Canada Post has lost more than $3 billion since 2018 and just posted a $315 million loss before tax in the third quarter of 2024.

To help secure the future of the company and grow our parcel business, Canada Post has put forward proposals to offer seven-day-a-week parcel delivery and other important improvements. This new delivery model is essential for the future of the company, and critical to our ability to afford the offers. 

For current employees, Canada Post has focused on protecting and enhancing what’s important to them – competitive wage increases (11.5% over four years), more paid leave, while protecting the defined benefit pension and job security provisions.

Delivery is a labour-intensive business, with labour and benefits consuming over 70 per cent of revenues at Canada Post in 2023. Labour costs rose by $242 million in 2023, or about 6.5 per cent, compared to 2022.

CUPW’s national strike is now in day 10 and the impacts on the company and the country are mounting. With the postal system effectively shut down by the strike for a week and a half, we are down millions of parcels and entering the busy Black Friday online shopping week effectively shut down. 

Beyond the impact on Canada Post, the ripple effects of the national strike across the country are having a major impact on small businesses, charities and remote communities.

We remain committed to reaching new agreements at the bargaining table.